Online digital marketing is becoming more difficult, and advertising costs have seen a sharp increase in prices over the last several years.
The competition is getting fierce among digital marketers, especially in the real estate industry, which sees the demand for more online presence and virtual channels to ensure that it’s still business as usual in the face of the current global pandemic.
How to determine sound or terrible marketing advice
It’s not just about keeping up to date with the latest trends and resources in digital marketing; it is also about how to manage and leverage these tools to your advantage.
But make no mistake, there is much terrible marketing advice going around that promises to offer practical strategies that may look and sound good but result from poor planning and data analysis.
Here are some of the most popular digital marketing advice that every real estate agent must be aware of;
“Marketing automation will save your business.”
With the deluge of marketing automation resources available online, developers are racing to get ahead of another in the face of features, functionality, and flair.
While having the most dynamic and useful marketing automation tools promise to benefit marketers with valuable and efficient resources, consumers also experience frustration over the intrusion of digital marketing bots and email blasts that flood their social media and email channels.
Recent statistics have shown that consumers do not hesitate to be removed from SMS or bulk email software since automated campaigns have become too pervasive and impersonal.
Even real estate marketers have complained about getting the brunt of clients venting their frustrations on receiving many marketing emails and text messages, thus, causing more harm than good for their digital footprint.
Also, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) is improving these marketing processes, but we are yet to see how effective it is to foster and nurture long-term relationships due to the impact of automated marketing campaigns.
“Engagement: Your primary social media KPI.”
While social media may be fun and exciting, especially when you see many people engaging in your posts, engagement should never be your primary goal, especially if you need it as a marketing tool.
Those likes and shares have noted the revenues you need for your real estate business.
There’s nothing wrong with measuring engagement in social media; and however, if you invest solely for engagement, then you are just wasting time, effort, and money in the process.
However, it would help if you were focusing on using social media as a channel to showcase and advertise your real estate business and take advantage of the platform to market your business.
“No need for a website.”
If you think that your real estate website is only about your business profile, reviews, or property listings, you don’t need to have one because they are now largely available in real estate portals and social platforms related to the industry.
But if you want to build your brand, authority, professional reputation, and trustworthiness as a real estate agent, then a website becomes one of your most powerful tools to do so.
Remember that real estate portals and social media platforms are not your own, so you do not have the freedom to do whatever you want to stand out from your competition in the industry.
With your website, you can showcase your services and products in a way that will make it more exciting and enticing for people to follow and sign-up for your assistance.
“Email marketing is no longer effective.”
On the contrary, email is not dead.
Recent studies have shown that almost half of 47% of all consumers prefer to receive an email for brand and business communications, 17% prefer to have ads displayed, 14% want to know via SMS, and 12% like being notified via mobile apps.
Surprisingly, social media was a choice for only 10% of the consumers.
In reality, email can be personalised and showcase your real estate business to add value to your subscribers.